7 Dubuque Christmas Lights And Events 2025 | Iowa USA

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As an expat, there’s not many typical American ‘holidays’ that I celebrate, we don’t have Thanksgiving or the 4th of July in England and Halloween is no where near on the same scale that it is here! HOWEVER, I have spent my whole life celebrating Christmas! So here are some events in Dubuque that you should check out this year!

Will update as 2026 events are announced.

Dubuque Christmas Events 2025

NOVEMBER

Reflections In The Park

🗺Location: Louis Murphy Park, Dubuque, IA

📅Dates: November 26th 2025 – January 4th 2026 (Special walk-thru event on November 26th 2025)

🕖5pm to 10pm

Reflections in the Park is a drive through Christmas light display that happens in Louis Murphy Park each year. It is put on by Hillcrest Family Services to raise money for their programs. Entry is $12 per vehicle and every visitor receives a candy cane.

To get you in the Christmas spirit, they give you a radio station to tune into which plays Christmas music as you drive around the park.  A lot of the lights represent different local companies that have donated to the display.  Because of this, there’s a lot of unique shaped lights that you might not necessarily see on regular private home displays!

This is a great event on cold December evenings because you get to experience it from the warmth of your own car!

Related Reading: Reflections in the Park Dubuque: Drive Thru Christmas Light Display!

Santa & Mrs Claus Ride The Fenelon Place Elevator

🗺Location: Fenelon Place Elevator, 4th and Bluff St, Dubuque, IA

📅Date: Saturday 29th November 2025

🕧6pm

If you want to see some other Christmas lights in Dubuque, even though the Fenelon Place Elevator shuts down from November for the winter season, you’ll still find Christmas lights around the lower station and decorations up the hill alongside the track!  

There’ll be Christmas music and lights and Mr and Mrs Claus take a trip down the Fenelon Place Elevator to greet waiting children at the bottom. It’s nice to see this Dubuque icon embracing the Christmas spirit too!

This is the 49th annual ‘Christmas on the Square’ event taking place in Cable Car Square, with food trucks, shopping and more.

DECEMBER

Hotel Julien Dubuque: Breakfast With Santa

🗺Location: 200 Main Street, Dubuque, IA 52001

📅Dates: Breakfast With Santa – December 6th 2025

The Hotel Julien is not only a lovely hotel, but during the lead up to Christmas, they often hold various Christmas events.

On Saturday December 6th, is the Breakfast with Santa event! This jammed packed event starts at 8am and runs until 11am with breakfast being served at 9am. Santa makes a second appearance at the Hotel Julien and kids can join in with cookie decorating, Christmas crafts, stories and music.

The event is ticketed for both adults and children and often sells out in advance.  HOWEVER children eat free with a donation of a new toy $10 for the Toys For Tots Foundation.

Related Reading: A Stay at the Hotel Julien – Dubuque, IA

A Merry Millwork Market

🗺Location: 10th & Washington Street, Dubuque, IA 52001

📅Dates: Dec 5th 2025 – 4pm until 8pm | Dec 6th 2025 – 9am until 2pm

The Millwork Night Market started as a bit of an extension to the Saturday morning Farmer’s Market, giving people a second chance to buy fresh local ingredients and crafts. The night market stops in the winter but opens again for 2 days as the Merry Millwork Market and is a fun Dubuque Christmas event!

The market takes place in the Schimid Innovation Centre courtyard and in the surrounding streets!  There are local craft and food vendors offering various items for sale. I bought a Christmas themed drink from Inspire Cafe (now Wayfarer Coffee) and a bowl of soup from Brazen Kitchen!  

It’s not quite the same as a European Christmas Market BUT warm food is always a must and the Merry Millwork Market definitely ticks this box!

They have a tree lighting ceremony on the Friday night, as well as visits from Santa, activities for children and live music entertainment. There will also be horse and carriage rides. I love the Millwork District so it’s a great excuse to visit this area of town!

Scuba Diving Santa at the Mississippi River Museum

🗺Location: 350 East 3rd Street, Port of Dubuque, Iowa 52001

📅Dates: 6th & 7th Dec 2025

🕖12pm until 1 pm

For an hour each day during one weekend in December, Santa goes scuba diving in the Gulf of Mexico tank at the National Mississippi River Museum!  Visitors can have pictures in front of the aquarium with Santa posing in the background!

Mathias Ham Historic Site: ‘Home For The Holidays’

🗺Location: 2241 Lincoln Ave, Dubuque, IA 52001

📅Dates: TBA*

The Mathias Ham Historic Site was built in 1856 by the Dubuque Entrepreneur, Mathias Ham (you can also see his grave in the Linwood Cemetery). The site is run by the Dubuque County Historical Society. The Ham House shuts for the winter season but it opens up during weekends in December for the ‘Christmas At The Ham House‘ event.

Each weekend had a different theme.  I went to ‘Christmas By Hand’. This showed how the house would have been decorated during the Christmas season and the types of traditions that family would have had. In 2020 they have introduced a candle light tour which starts at 6pm!

The house was decorated in a similar style to a Victorian Christmas with lots of European influences. You can tour the house and there are interpreters dressed up in old fashioned clothes that are stationed in various rooms. They give you information about the history of the Ham House.

Downstairs in the basement, you could make Christmas decorations, similar to those that the family would have decorated the house with. Things such as pine cones and paper chains.  Entrance also includes hot chocolate and cookies!  I also saw Christmas carollers during my visit!

Afternoon Tea

On December *th from 1pm-3pm is the Christmas Afternoon Tea event with finger sandwiches, sweet treats and teas (or hot chocolate and marshmallows)

Winter Wonderland Package at the Grand Harbor Resort

🗺Location: 350 Bell Street, Dubuque, IA 52001

📅Dates: Valid on Friday and Saturday nights in December & 24th – 30th Dec 2025

I got to experience the Santa’s Getaway event at the Grand Harbor Resort for 2 years! Santa and his elf visited the hotel room! He brought milk and cookies and a bag of tokens to use on the machines in the arcade! In 2025 this has been replaced by the ‘Winter Wonderland Package’.

The package includes:

• overnight accommodation
• 4 tickets to the waterpark
• a large 1-topping pizza with 4 sodas
• continental breakfast
• 1 holiday surprise in the room
• $10 arcade card
• 4 laser maze tokens

Rooms start at $299pn

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